When I was first married, I could hardly cook an egg. Of course, there wasn’t much motivation to learn more since I didn’t have a kitchen! It’s true. We spent the first year and a half as newlyweds in a 400 sq. foot historic 1830’s log cabin… very romantic for a gal who loves “Little House on the Prairie.” But, with no kitchen, I learned to cook with an electric hot plate and microwave. I washed dishes in our claw foot tub.
After buying our first home (with a kitchen) I realized that I should probably learn a few recipes, so I did what every young wife does… called MOM 🙂 She lovingly gave me her secrets to all my favorite meals. And, guess what? I can cook way more than an egg now! Somewhere between calling Mom and giving birth to my three daughters, I gained even more inspiration for cooking by watching the Food Network. They made it seem so easy and maybe even fun.
Now I make up my own recipes quite often and I’ve learned that cooking doesn’t have to be hard. However, writing this blog post ABOUT cooking is a bit of a challenge since most of my recipes aren’t written down. As a result of not measuring and recording original recipes, my dinners are often slightly different every single time!
One of my family’s favorite meals is chicken pot-pie. Who doesn’t love a good chicken pot-pie, right? This is a recipe my mom gave me, but over the years I have altered a few ingredients to make it my own.
Ingredients
- 6 cups of water
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 small heads of broccoli
- 3 whole carrots
- 2 small red potatoes
- 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. sage
- 1 tsp. ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp. onion salt or powder
- 3 slices of Velveeta cheese
- 2 boxes of Pillsbury pie crust
- 6 Tbs. flour
- a splash of cream
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put the chicken breasts in a medium sized stew pot with 6 cups of water. Season the water with salt, sage, pepper, and onion salt. Cover the pot and boil on high for about 20 minutes. While the chicken is boiling, prepare your veggies by chopping them into bite size pieces.
- After the chicken is cooked , remove it from the pot. Put your potatoes and carrots in the pot and boil for 3-4 minutes, then add broccoli and corn, continuing to boil another 5 minutes or until veggies are tender (but not too soft). While veggies are boiling you can cut your chicken into pieces, returning it to the pot.
- Now it's time to transform the chicken and veggies into a creamy goodness. Stir in 6 Tbs. of flour to the pot, while cooking on high for about 2 minutes. Then, add a splash of cream and reduce heat to low. Tear the cheese slices into pieces and add to the mixture. Stir until cheese is melted and creamy goodness begins to thicken. Turn off the stove and let the pot sit for a couple minutes.
- Next, butter your 9 x 13 glass baking dish and lay 2 (room temp) Pillsbury pie crusts on the bottom. The crusts will overlap but that's okay! And, if you would rather google a homemade pie crust recipe and use that instead of store bought, then go right ahead and be Super Mom! (I am a very busy mom and find the store bought crust to be much easier.) After laying your pie crusts down, pour in the creamy goodness. Cover with the remaining 2 pie crusts and pinch the edges so it makes a pretty wavy pattern all around. Cut 4-6 slits in the top crust and then put the pot pie in the oven.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden.
And there you have it! A simply FANTABULOUS Chicken Pot-Pie. A meal even your 7 yr. old will eat and won’t even complain when it’s time for leftovers.